Obamacare Has Already Transformed How We Diagnose Diabetes

President Obama may be able add another feather to his cap, according to a study of newly diagnosed diabetes patients published in Diabetes Care this week. The study found a 23 percent increase in newly diagnosed diabetes patients in the 26 states (and the District of Columbia) that expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act last year. In the 24 states that did not expand Medicaid, the increase in newly diagnosed diabetes patients was only 0.4 percent. “Clearly, expanding Medicaid has allowed those 26 states that did so to identify a large number of people who previously did not know they were living with diabetes,” Vivian Fonseca, a professor of medicine and pharmacology at Tulane University School of Medicine and one of the study’s authors, said in a statement to the American Diabetes Association. Catching and treating diabetes in its early stages can lead to improved long-term health outcomes. "Early identification can be potentially life-saving for people with diabetes, and can at the very least greatly increase the chances of preventing or delaying complications,” Fonseca said. Diabetes complications can include kidney disease, increased risk for stroke and poor circulation that can lead to amputations. Indeed, diabetes is an increasing -- as well as increasingly costly -- problem in the United States. More than 29 million people in the United Sates suffer from the disease, with for one in every 10 health care dollars spent on diabetes. In 2012, diabete...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news